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Crime

Four boys set fire at Civic, police say

The children, facing second degree arson charges, panicked and fled when the blaze got out of hand

By Chelsea Gorrow

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Friday, July 3, 2015, page A1

Four children are facing second degree arson charges for the fire that destroyed the historic Civic Stadium on Monday evening.

Eugene police on Thursday said the boys climbed over a fence to enter the stadium, went to the old press box and used a lighter to set fire to leaves and other debris that were already there. The blaze then spread rapidly.

Police Detective Steve Williams said he did not believe the boys started the fire with the intention of burning the whole structure. Rather, he said, they were just being curious kids who started a fire that got out of hand. Because the fire spread so rapidly, the boys panicked and fled, he said.

Williams said the parents have been extremely remorseful. The boys, however, might not realize the full magnitude of what happened, he said.

Luckily, police said, none of the boys was injured. It was unclear whether they stayed to watch the blaze with the several hundred people that gathered Monday night.

Two 12-year-old boys are in the John Serbu Youth Campus in Eugene, police said. A 10-year-old and a 12-year-old have not been taken into custody yet but may be held at a later time. Williams said he was unsure about the youngest one because lodging him may not serve a purpose. But, he said, that will be up to authorities in the juvenile system and the Lane County District Attorney’s office, which will do the official charging for the offenses. None of the boys’ names have been released because of their ages.

“Their introduction to the criminal justice system is designed to ensure that they have the greatest opportunity to have a productive and constructive life ahead,” Eugene Police Chief Pete Kerns said. “So we hope and wish that that’s exactly what happens for them. And this is an opportunity for the community now to develop a new vision for Civic Stadium.”

Police were alerted to the boys’ involvement Wednesday morning and made the arrests of the boys between 7 and 8 p.m. that night.

Police said a fifth boy had been with the four in the press box 15 to 20 minutes before the fire started, but was called home by a parent and left.

That boy later told his parents he had been at the stadium with the four others before the fire started. His parents contacted detectives.

Police said the fifth boy had not been involved in the fire and will not face any charges related to the incident.

None of the three knew whether the families of the boys would be held financially responsible for the damage to the stadium. The structure was insured for $3 million, according to Derek Johnson of the Eugene Civic Alliance.

Fire crews were called to the stadium just before 5:30 p.m. Monday for the fire, which quickly engulfed the structure. Several witnesses reported seeing a group of young boys in the press box before the fire, and then again crossing the pedestrian bridge with their bicycles, as the blaze grew.

At times, the flames were twice as high as the grandstands, fire officials said. It was after 7 p.m. before the fire was deemed under control.

A two-block radius around the stadium was evacuated and debris in the air — feared to contain asbestos — started other small fires in the surrounding neighborhood. The largest of those secondary fires started on the roof of an apartment building nearby, police said, but was put out before spreading to the interior of the building.

In the days following the fire, arson investigators and police with the federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms explored the scene to determine a cause and point of origin.

Under state law, a person commits second-degree arson by starting a fire or causing an explosion that intentionally damages a building and causes more than $750 in damage. It is a Class C felony.

The lesser charge of reckless burning can be pressed if a person causes damage to the property of someone else by either fire or explosion.

First-degree arson charges can be pressed if the fire is intentionally set and causes injury to another person.